Chapter Two:"The Scarlet Trio"
Squall managed to put up a subtle distance between himself and Passion. Passion was walking, her steps like feathers onto the rough stone surface. Squall heard his own steps, and Passion whistling a tune to herself.
He found himself wondering about the song she was whistling. But he decided not to say anything. He just followed her through the corridors.
"Why do these corridors twist and turn like a serpent?" Squall asked.
"They twist but they don't turn- for fixation infests thoughts..." Passion replied.
"What makes you so obedient?" Squall demanded this time, "Pain, Fear and Sorrow were only resistant."
"That is because I am closer to your core,
It is because I was there once before
And I know your personified score..."
"Care to tell me the results?" Squall demanded.
"Do you really think you can comprehend
Or even stand,
All of your faults?"
Squall fell to silence afer her sentence. He continued to follow her lead as the thought started to work it's way into his head.
I cannot handle my flaws... I am a perfectionist.
Passion stopped. Squall advanced two steps towards her, each step echocing three times before he stopped, and saw her smile.
"Seeing perfection kill you- you must now become an expressionist." She said.
Squall stared at her with a vacant stare in his eyes.
"There is much I can't understand." Squall said.
"Follow me; for I will create revelations."
"When did my life get out of hand?"
"Don't you know why you are now in jeapordation?"
"Am I?"
"You will see
If you follow me
And see whether it's truth or lie."
After that, Passion continued to walk. She lead the way for Squall again. Squall wondered why he was unconditionally following a total stranger.
"Do you not trust me?" Passion asked, as she continued to walk, with her dress flying gently around her elegant ankles.
"How can I trust someone I have just met?"
"Don't you already know me?" Passion asked, with something more than seduction hidden in her voice.
"Why do you sound like an old regret?"
"I am not a regret..." Passion sounded both disappointed and disapproving, "I am what you will understand slowly."
Squall couldn't argue with her as she stopped by the edge of the cave... And the wind outside blew onto her dress, lifting her skirt up. Squall didn't have to be a man to concentrate on her perfect figure.
"Come on, my orchid." Passion said, "I will take you to Deusapolis... Or, truthfully speaking, the finest bar in Deusapolis."
Squall observed the city that laid before his eyes. Made out of organic buildings, it looked like the bar-town Dollet in itself; all the bars were in different shapes, and different designs of architecture.
"Is that Deusapolis?" Squall demanded.
"What better city can you design for a God?" Passion demanded in return.
Shivering, Squall asked another question; "Can you tell me what this cold is?"
"The wind inside isn't blocked by architectures of blood."
Passion waited for a little while looking around. Then, she turned to Squall, brushed her hair over her shoulder. Squall's eyes couldn't help but deviate there. No matter how much he had fallen for Rinoa, he couldn't help but feel want for her.
"Don't do that, scarlet bolt." Passion said.
"I don't wish to, but my senses revolt." Squall replied.
"Your feelings never lie... But they have been since that day."
"What day?"
"That fateful day,
When you met her, your heart swayed,
Before being blown away..."
"By what, by the impossibility of her stay?"
"No." Passion replied, "By the possibility of her stay."
Suddenly, Squall felt something materialise around him. Slowly, but subtly, he realised that it was walls, tables, chairs, empty glasses, and even a thin smoke coloured in violet...
When the emergence was complete, Squall saw the settings of a bar. He found that he was sitting on a bar chair, leaning on the bar stand. Passion wasn't next to him anymore, she was gone.
The bartender approached him. The bartender was a articule woman who was wearing a regular suit... A suit that fit on her perfectly, and Squall felt like this bar itself was made for unwilling intoxication.
"Can I fix you something?" the bartender asked, licking her lips and smearing a bit of her black lipstick around her cheeks.
"Whiskey."
"Such a hard drink, before the show."
"The show?" Squall demanded.
"The show of The Scarlet Trio."
"The Scarlet Trio?" Squall demanded.
"Yes." The bartender replied, "I'd better give you some liqeur; for it suits the show finer than whiskey."
"Whatever." Squall replied.
Squall looked around to see what the bar was like. He knew that it would be crucial. The bar didn't have a sign of it's name inside. The customers were all moving like they were in a funeral, soft, slow, and sorrowful. They were all wearing black clothes, with worn designs, torn fabric... They were all minding their own businesses. Too busy with their drinks that rested in disjointed glasses.
"Oh, good!" the bartender said, "The Scarlet Trip will make their appereance."
Squall turned around on the bar chair and stared at the stage which had been lighted up with pink lights, painting it in a disgusting colour of rotting flesh.
Squall witnessed Fear walk up to the stage and tap on the microphone to see if it was working.
"And now, ladies and gentlemen,
Your greatest sentiment...
The one and only show:
The Scarlet Trio!"
The curtains behind Fear suddenly burst into flames, as he crossed them and went to backstage. Squall watched the crowd turn their attention to the stage, their faces brightening up, and their excitement rising fastly.
First, Passion walked on stage with the same outfit Squall had seen before; with an additional scarlet gloves. She grabbed hold of one microphone and kissed it, getting a couple of faint cheers from the crowd. Then, another woman went up on stage... With her golden eyes glistening through the scarlet smoke of the bar, and her gray hair was falling onto her shoulders like a waterfall. She was wearing a black nightdress which was similar to Rinoa's white one... She smiled, and Squall knew her name immidiately; she was Desire.
Finally, another young girl walked up on the stage. She had crimson red eyes beneath her short, blonde hair, and she was wearing a modified man's suit just like the bartender, complete with a hat and a tie... Except, she wasn't wearing a shirt. Squall felt her name in his veins; Lust.
First, Passion sang, as she pointed to Squall;
"Hey mis-ter 'I,
Kissed her', you made her a blis-ter...
Missed her, as you, twist her
In a man-ner of Lucifer..."
Then, Lust went on;
"And now you want me, Lust to, hold ya
Before my slow dance folds ya...
Will I call you when I'm in the neighborhood?
Will I pleasure you like I said I would?"
They all sang together as Squall drank down his liqeur:
"Why do you think she never loved ya?
She always wanted to stay above
Whether at night or day or noon,
Why did she get so angry so soon?"
Desire took over the song to answer the question,
"Because outside these sexy scars
And inside the questions of who you are,
Aside from the want and the need
I will cause you-
To hurt!..
...And bleed."
Squall didn't feel the bartender pass him another glass, but he drank it down anyway, as The Scarlet Trio started to hum to the melody of the song, while dancing slowly and seductively.
When they saluted the audience, the curtains behind them had started to form themselves again. Squall watched them disappear beneath the curtain...
...Where Desire stopped for a second, and turned to Squall. Only to shoot him an offended look.